CGP CSGA CSPWC OSA P11
1916 - 1956
Canadian
Growth
watercolour, ink and pastel on illustration board
signed and on verso titled and dated 1954 on the exhibition label
37 x 25 3/4 in, 94 x 65.4 cm
Estimate: $25,000 - $35,000 CAD
Sold for: $29,250
Preview at: Heffel Toronto – 13 Hazelton Ave
PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the Artist in a poker game
By descent to the present Private Collection, Toronto
EXHIBITED
The Ontario Society of Artists 82nd Annual Exhibition, March 1954
Oscar Cahén’s distinctive palette of dense blacks, candy-floss pink, sunny orange and sky blue make Growth an outstanding example of the energetic, fertile images he produced throughout the 1950s. The history of ownership of this work reminds us that a factor common to most of the artists associated with Painters Eleven was their outstanding skill as graphic artists. Steady employment in that field not only paid the bills but also provided them with a workplace sympathetic to their aspirations as exhibiting artists beyond the commercial sphere of advertising and publishing. His work as an illustrator introduced Cahén to his peers - Walter Yarwood, Harold Town and Ray Mead among them - who became devoted friends and fellow members of Painters Eleven. Cahén also met people like the first owner of Growth, who was then the art director at the ad firm Vickers & Benson. It was after one of their regular poker nights that Cahén, short of cash, offered to pay with a painting. The art director only knew Cahén as a very successful illustrator but, having viewed a selection of his artwork, was delighted to accept!
Estimate: $25,000 - $35,000 CAD
All prices are in Canadian Dollars
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